The next government faces repeating a common mistake of over-promising on the campaign trail and under-delivering in office, the Institute for Government cautions in a new paper. In All in it Together, the independent think tank says that a new administration can hope to break this cycle by building on the existing long-term reform initiatives – which are only now starting to address the entrenched weaknesses found across government departments.

PASC has today published the government’s response to the Committee’s 2014 report Who’s Accountable: Relationships between arm’s-length bodies and government. The report endorsed the Institute’s recommendation that a simpler system for classifying arm’s-length bodies is required in order to set arm’s-length government on a long-term stable footing.

Publications

This short paper sets out the general guidance on government and civil service activity in the 2015 election period, highlighting some little-known aspects of the conventions, and outlines the process of establishing a government in the event of a hung parliament.